1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems and, more particularly, to services for creating and administering contests over computer networks such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Skill-based contests, in which multiple contestants submit entries such as short stories, photographs etc., and in which winners are identified and awarded at the end of the contest, have been popular for generations. Traditionally, however, the establishment and administration of such contests has required considerable effort and time—e.g., the organizer has to set up the rules of the contest, publicize the contest, select judges or voters, receive the entries, provide the entries to the judges/voters, tally the results, notify the winners, etc., each of which often required the organizer to perform one or more manual actions. In addition, especially if the contest involves an entry fee or some level of monetary compensation, it has been the contest organizer's responsibility to determine whether any government regulations apply to the contest, and if so, to obtain any needed permissions from government authorities, and ensure that no applicable regulations are violated by the contest. As a result, setting up such contests has typically been an expensive and slow process that is usually beyond the capabilities of the average citizen.
In recent years, personal computers of ever-increasing computational power have become more and more affordable, and network connectivity and available bandwidth between computers has greatly increased with the advent of the Internet. The number and types of content sources accessible from home computers, and the types of content that can be created relatively easily and cheaply using home computers and equipment typically available in middle class households, have all proliferated. Videos created at home using inexpensive digital video recorders, Web-based logs or “blogs” and podcasts of audio material are just some examples of new types of content that can be created and distributed fairly easily. There has also been an increased interest in new types of entertainment involving competitions among non-professionals in which the winners are selected by the audience, such as the popular “American Idol” television program in the United States, and its many clones throughout the world. Despite the increasing networking and content creation capabilities available and the continued interest in competitions of skill, however, flexible, easy-to-use mechanisms for setting up and conducting skill-based contests have so far remained unavailable.